Annotation:Route (The)
X:1 T:Route, The L:1/8 M:4/4 S:From a transcription of Henry Reed’s playing by Alan Jabbour K:Ador [AA]|[A/c/][A/A/][A/B/][A/A/] [A/c/][A/A/][A/A/][A/A/] c/A/E/=F/ GG|\ [G/B/]G/[G/A/]G/ [G/B/]G/[A/G/]G/ E/(G/A) [AA][AA]| [AA]|[A/c/][A/A/][A/B/][A/A/] [A/c/][A/A/][A/A/][A/A/] c/A/E/=F/ GG|\ [G/B/]G/[G/A/]G/ [G/B/]G/[A/G/]G/ E/(G/A) [AA][AA]| A/B/c/d/ eg e/d/B/c/ df|(d/f/)(e/d/) B(A/G/) E/(G/A) [AA]A| (A/B/)(c/d/) eg [A/e/](d/B/c/) d(e/f/)|g/a/b/a/ g/d/e/d/|B/(G/A) [AA]||
ROUTE, THE. AKA and see "Colonel Crocket (1)," "Gal on the Log (2)," "Jenny on the Railroad," "Little Peg n' Awl." American, Reel (2/4 time). USA; southwest Virginia, West Virginia. A Mixolydian (Hammons). Standard or ADae tuning (fiddle). AAB. Charles Wolfe (1997) remarks that this tune was collected as early as 1839 as the song “Col. Crocket’s Reel” by none other than the American frontiersman Davy Crockett, who was a skilled fiddler and buck dancer (it is said he entertained the defenders of the Alamo with his fiddle during lulls in the action). A tune called “Colonel Crocket: A Virginia Reel” in Baltimore publisher George P. Knauff’s 1839 collection Virginia Reels. Alan Jabbour remarks that the tune does not seem to have Northern or British Isles antecedents, however, Paul Gifford finds an Irish variant as “Katy Jones” recorded in the 78 RPM era by New York based fiddler Frank Quinn. Jabbour remarks that variants of "The Route" melody does sometimes appear outside of the western Virginia and West Virginia region, where migrants from those regions are known to have settled. For example, a version of the melody was recorded on 78 RPM as “Jenny on the Railroad” by the Mississippi group Carter Brothers and Son (Vocalation 5297), and Ft. Worth, Texas, fiddler Capt. M.J. Bonner recorded a version in 1925 he called "Gal on the Log (2)." Morris (1927) has a version (2nd and 3rd strains only) called "Missippi [sic] Sawyer" (No. 23) but that title is strongly associated with another tune. Alan Jabbour finds a manuscript version in Hamblen’s A Collection of Violin Tunes Popular under the title "Jolly Blacksmith (2)" (she wouldn't come at all), and notes that there are obscene verses associated with the tune.
Burl Hammons, Pocahontas County, West Virginia, played "The Route," and Braxton County, West Virginia, fiddler Melvin Wine's (1909-2003) "Little Peg n' Awl" ("Peggin' Awl") is a version of Henry Reed's "The Route." See also the related Kentucky tune “Hickory Jack.”
